Because my last two posts (the stage-name quiz and the answers) dealt mostly with people in theater, I decided to use the headings “Guys” and “Dolls” for the two lists. Clever, eh, wot? *bows to receive applause from adoring public.
That reminded me that when Mrs. RWP and I went to a Red Lobster Restaurant for the first time many years ago, we giggled that instead of the words “Men” and “Women” on the rest room doors the signs read “Buoys” and “Gulls” -- I know. We are easily amused.
And that reminded me that at an elementary school in Kansas this week, the administration instructed the teachers not to call the children “boys” and “girls” any more, but “Purple Penguins” instead. I’m presuming the school mascot for team sports is a purple penguin, but it could be a saber-toothed tiger for all I know.
And that reminded me of what radio-personality Garrison Keillor has said for years is his favorite joke: One penguin says to another, “You look like you’re wearing a tuxedo” and the second penguin replies, “What makes you think I’m not?”
Pa-dum-dum. Rim shot on the snare drum. With a cymbal crash afterward.
Hey, folks, it’s Saturday morning and I can do only so much.
Blog reading is like betting on a horse race. You go with your heart and you take your chances.
Can do. Can do. (1:32)
Showing posts with label penguins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label penguins. Show all posts
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Saturday, November 8, 2008
The beat goes on
Yesterday I posted on the subject of Garrison Keillor’s favorite joke. I had a few more thoughts on the subject in response to a question from a commenter, so, even though it may be beating a dead horse, I thought I would post that exchange here today for the benefit of anybody out there who reads my posts but skips the comments.
On November 7, 2008, at 11:49 PM, Jeannelle said:
I've never heard that one before. My brain’s pretty slow and it’ll take me a long time to think this one over.
G.K. is biting...his “homespun” humor can cut right through our ingrained notions. We are often uncomfortable with that.
What is the gist of the joke? Is it to open our eyes to our perceptions about ourselves and others?
So help me figure it out...the questioning penguin -- who looks the same as the penguin he is addressing -- has the nerve to suggest that the real penguin skin looks like something that it isn’t. As if his own appearance isn’t just the same....
It prompts some serious thinking, that's for sure. Now I’ll have trouble getting to sleep....
On November 8, 2008, at 7:06 AM, rhymeswithplague said:
Jeannelle, I have never figured out what it means. But I have figured out that it isn’t funny. And that, I think, is why GK keeps telling it, as a sort of inside joke with his audience. He pokes fun at himself in the telling. It is a method of self-exaltation while appearing to be self-deprecating. It’s his way of saying, “If you were as smart and as successful as I, you could have your own radio show and movie and book signing tours and tell jokes that aren’t funny, too. But, as we both know, you’re not.”
But that’s just my opinion. If you ever figure out why the joke is funny, if in fact it is, be sure to let me know.
Or this could all be sour grapes on my part, because I do like so many of the skits on GK’s radio show. The writing is very good. It’s just the music that keeps me perplexed. And this penguin joke.
On November 8, 2008, at 7:56 AM, rhymeswithplague said:
Of course, the first penguin would have to have seen a human being wearing a tuxedo somewhere on the Antarctic continent, or, if that seems unlikely, perhaps when the Academy Awards were on television.
You see how this sort of thing can play havoc with one’s brain. Anthropomorphism takes quite a bit of suspension of disbelief. Couldn’t he just have said, “Two penguins walk into a bar, and....”?
On November 8, 2008, at 8:01 AM, rhymeswithplague said:
The most logical response from the second penguin would have been, “So do you,” but would that be funny? Or he could have done a Pee-wee Herman imitation and said, “I know you are, but what am I?” Would that have been funny?
The correct answers are No and No.
On November 8, 2008, at 8:03 AM, rhymeswithplague said:
Or maybe it’s an illustration of the old show-biz saying, “Dying is easy; comedy is hard.”
I really must stop now.
And I did. One way or another we will strip every piece of meat off this bone.
On November 7, 2008, at 11:49 PM, Jeannelle said:
I've never heard that one before. My brain’s pretty slow and it’ll take me a long time to think this one over.
G.K. is biting...his “homespun” humor can cut right through our ingrained notions. We are often uncomfortable with that.
What is the gist of the joke? Is it to open our eyes to our perceptions about ourselves and others?
So help me figure it out...the questioning penguin -- who looks the same as the penguin he is addressing -- has the nerve to suggest that the real penguin skin looks like something that it isn’t. As if his own appearance isn’t just the same....
It prompts some serious thinking, that's for sure. Now I’ll have trouble getting to sleep....
On November 8, 2008, at 7:06 AM, rhymeswithplague said:
Jeannelle, I have never figured out what it means. But I have figured out that it isn’t funny. And that, I think, is why GK keeps telling it, as a sort of inside joke with his audience. He pokes fun at himself in the telling. It is a method of self-exaltation while appearing to be self-deprecating. It’s his way of saying, “If you were as smart and as successful as I, you could have your own radio show and movie and book signing tours and tell jokes that aren’t funny, too. But, as we both know, you’re not.”
But that’s just my opinion. If you ever figure out why the joke is funny, if in fact it is, be sure to let me know.
Or this could all be sour grapes on my part, because I do like so many of the skits on GK’s radio show. The writing is very good. It’s just the music that keeps me perplexed. And this penguin joke.
On November 8, 2008, at 7:56 AM, rhymeswithplague said:
Of course, the first penguin would have to have seen a human being wearing a tuxedo somewhere on the Antarctic continent, or, if that seems unlikely, perhaps when the Academy Awards were on television.
You see how this sort of thing can play havoc with one’s brain. Anthropomorphism takes quite a bit of suspension of disbelief. Couldn’t he just have said, “Two penguins walk into a bar, and....”?
On November 8, 2008, at 8:01 AM, rhymeswithplague said:
The most logical response from the second penguin would have been, “So do you,” but would that be funny? Or he could have done a Pee-wee Herman imitation and said, “I know you are, but what am I?” Would that have been funny?
The correct answers are No and No.
On November 8, 2008, at 8:03 AM, rhymeswithplague said:
Or maybe it’s an illustration of the old show-biz saying, “Dying is easy; comedy is hard.”
I really must stop now.
And I did. One way or another we will strip every piece of meat off this bone.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Garrison Keillor’s favorite joke
It must be true. He tells it, or makes sly references to it, or works it into his routines frequently, most recently on last Saturday afternoon’s A Prairie Home Companion radio show. It even made its way into his A Prairie Home Companion movie a couple of years back, directed by one Robert Altman.
I think the real joke must be that the joke is not funny, or that you have to think about it for a long time. It’s the kind of joke Steven Wright and Paula Poundstone have been known to tell. Here it is, Garrison Keillor’s favorite joke:
Two penguins are standing on an ice floe and one looks at the other and says, “You look like you’re wearing a tuxedo.” And the other one says, “What makes you think I’m not?”
All in all, the humor of Garrison Keillor either is your cup of tea or it isn’t (we won’t complicate things by bringing up his musical tastes). Either you like him or you don’t.
As for me, sometimes I do, and sometimes I don’t. If you just can’t get enough of him or want to know more about him, you can go to his A Prairie Home Companion website as often as you like. Or buy his books.
I think the real joke must be that the joke is not funny, or that you have to think about it for a long time. It’s the kind of joke Steven Wright and Paula Poundstone have been known to tell. Here it is, Garrison Keillor’s favorite joke:
Two penguins are standing on an ice floe and one looks at the other and says, “You look like you’re wearing a tuxedo.” And the other one says, “What makes you think I’m not?”
All in all, the humor of Garrison Keillor either is your cup of tea or it isn’t (we won’t complicate things by bringing up his musical tastes). Either you like him or you don’t.
As for me, sometimes I do, and sometimes I don’t. If you just can’t get enough of him or want to know more about him, you can go to his A Prairie Home Companion website as often as you like. Or buy his books.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
<b> Don’t blame me, I saw it on Facebook</b>
...and I didn't laugh out loud but my eyes twinkled and I smiled for a long time; it was the sort of low-key humor ( British, humour) I...
